Broadcasters team up for online TV service

Broadcasters team up for online TV service

The UK's leading TV broadcasters are teaming up to provide an online television service that will compete with YouTube for consumer eyeballs.

ITV, Channel 4 and the BBC's commercial division will each take a one-third stake in the venture, which is currently going by the name of Kangaroo.

It will mean that web users can watch current and archived programmes online and will provide excellent opportunities for video Internet Advertising.

Google bought the YouTube video website with the purpose of monetising it for advertising, and has been developing an anti-piracy system to improve its legitimacy.

The Kangaroo project will attempt to prise some web users away from YouTube and other video services, and could offer more than 10,000 hours of content.

"The consumer is at the heart of this proposition," said BBC Worldwide's David Moody. "They want one place to access all the content from the UK's largest broadcasters in a simple and fun way. It's a natural next step for us."

Internet advertising is an excellent way for businesses to monetise their websites.